Road to Pre-Season: Mastery Updates

"When we launched the 2017 Season Update site, we previewed just one Mastery change: swapping out Strength of the Ages for Courage of the Colossus, a new keystone mastery in the Resolve tree. This came down to having a billion things to talk about—between Assassins, Replays, and everything else, lower mastery tier changes had a hard time competing for space. So today we’ll be giving masteries their very own article, giving you an idea of what to expect in pre-season.

The 2017 mastery trees (icons in progress)

Before we begin, it’s worth mentioning that mastery trees share a general framework. As you progress down a tree, masteries become more targeted toward individual playstyles, both in terms of the benefits they grant and the requirements to access those benefits. Earlier masteries are often also geared toward laning phase or jungle clearing, whereas later masteries scale better with game time.

These ideas in mind, let’s jump into the changes!

Ferocity

The Ferocity tree caters to champions who prefer lengthier fights to quickly bursting opponents down. We’re adding a few new ways for them to customize how their fights play out.

Tier 2

Double-Edged Sword

Per the framework we just talked about, Double-Edged Sword’s nature as a scaling mastery makes it a bad fit for Tier 2’s early-game focus when compared to Feast. We’re moving it to Tier 4.

Moved to Tier 4

NEW Fresh Blood

For those who aren’t content to sit back and farm in lane.

Your first basic attack against a champion deals an additional 10 (+1 per level) damage (9 second cooldown)

Tier 4

Double-Edged Sword

Tier 4’s a better fit for Double-Edged Sword, making it the risk-reward option among three different forms of damage scaling. We’re amping the numbers up to give it appropriate impact for its new position in the tree.

Deal 5% additional damage and take 2.5% additional damage

REMOVED Oppressor
Champions either have crowd control abilities or they don’t, making Oppressor a pretty ‘yes or no’ mastery. How you play your champion makes little difference when the only question is whether you can do something or not, so we’re removing Oppressor in favor of something more flexible.

Removed

NEW Battle Trance

Safer than Double-Edged Sword, but takes time to ramp up.

Gain up to 5% increased damage over 5 seconds when in combat with enemy champions

Bounty Hunter

This is a straight-up buff!

Deal 1.5% increased damage for each unique enemy champion you have killed

Keystone

UPDATED Fervor of Battle

Fervor of Battle has been an on-again, off-again balance challenge for us throughout 2016, mostly due to on-hit effects only working when attack speed and basic attacking are prioritized above all else. Many Fervor users might prefer to focus on crit chance for harder-hitting attacks or cooldown reduction for more spellcasting, but they can’t because neither approach optimizes on-hit damage. In other words, Fervor doesn’t just support the attack speed playstyle, it suppresses everything else in the ‘sustained physical damage’ space.

We’re switching Fervor’s bonus to raw attack damage, a stat that fits in multiple approaches toward extended fighting. If we’re being direct, this is a power-down for on-hit builds, but overall, that puts all flavors of Fervor users back on an even playing field.

Hitting champions with basic attacks and abilities generates a Fervor stack (2 for melee attacks, 2 second cooldown for abilities). Stacks of Fervor last 4 seconds (max 10 stacks) and increase your attack damage by 1-6 for each stack.

Cunning

Cunning’s in a reasonably stable place, offering choices for champs who favor burst or utility—in some cases both, such as Stormraider’s Surge. We’re filling the last gap in the tree.

Tier 4

NEW Greenfather's Gift

Extra oomph for champions who duck in and out of brush between combat.

Stepping into brush causes your next damaging attack or ability to deal 3% of your target's current health as bonus magic damage (9 second cooldown)

Tier 5

Precision

Just keeping this mastery consistent with the removal of flat armor penetration.

The Resolve tree provides some solid options to make champions tankier, but ironically falls a bit flat in supporting the tank playstyle. We’re adding choices that reward tanks for actively doing their job rather than continuing to make them passively stronger.

Tier 2

NEW Siegemaster

If you spend the early game sitting under tower, Siegemaster helps you survive poke and live through dive attempts.

Strength of the Ages is the only keystone that’s become almost mandatory for an entire position, regardless of playstyle: the jungle. Health is useful for every class, so it stands to reason that champions who wouldn’t otherwise take Strength would still pick it in the jungle, where it can be stacked faster than any other position. The problem: most junglers now end up with 300 extra health, plus other survivability bonuses from the Resolve tree. This works for tanks, but when damage threats find success with defensive setups, opponents aren’t left with ways to fight back. We’re retiring Strength of the Ages so junglers gravitate toward keystones that enhance their playstyle, not their position—ensuring that damage dealers play like damage dealers, and tanks play like tanks.

Note: We know that Strength of the Ages was genuinely a good fit for some junglers. Removing it will be a hit to these core users, but with other pre-season changes taken into consideration, we don’t think anyone will be left without a keystone that fits their playstyle. Once the dust has settled, we’ll take a look and see if there are champs who’ve fallen far enough to warrant follow-up work.

Removed

NEW Courage of the Colossus

Giving initiators a survivability tool in the moment they need it most: diving into the enemy team.

Gain a shield for 7% (+7% for each nearby enemy champion) of your maximum health for 4 seconds after hitting an enemy champion with hard crowd control (30 second cooldown)

As with all our pre-season changes, masteries are subject to change while we continue testing on the PBE. Let us know what you think!"

[Regarding the last line - at time of publish both Courage of the Colossus and Fearless have slightly different numbers testing on the PBE.]

k double checked with a gameplay dude, now the list is updated and accurate"

When asked about junglers like Shyvana who mage good use of the old keystone, wav3break noted:

"Quote:

Shyvana lost both of her keystones and has no reliable way to proc the new tank one, what should she use now?

It seems like, to quote the article, she is "left without a keystone that fits her playstyle"

Also fun fact today is her 5th birthday

edit: To clarify, she lost Fervor and SotA. SotA was removed, and new Fervor does less damage onhit, and less damage on her Q because Q does onhits twice, and she doesn't have the ad ratios anywhere else to compensate

We are looking to give her a few changes in the upcoming patches that should help her land into this new season with some extra fire power :)"

Check these threads for additional context and discussion on other changes coming in pre-season:

You can also find full coverage of the 6.22 / Pre-season PBE ->[here].

Katarina Preseason Spotlight | Gameplay

With Katarina receiving a gameplay update in 6.22's Assassin Update, here's an updated champion spotlight showing off her kit changes, new combos, and more:

"The Sinister Blade has always been a feast-or-famine champ—when she goes in she either gets a penta or fails and gets blown up. Her update is all about giving her more ways to stay mobile, so she can impact fights without risking everything."

"Can't jump to wards. Can jump to allies, enemies, and daggers. As per the video, Shunpo now targets an area around the target (so you can choose to be on whichever side of Allies/Enemies/Daggers that you'd like to)"

2016 All-Star Voting

While the actual event isn't until December, Voting for the 2016 All-Staris now up!

"2016 ALL-STAR VOTING

At the 2016 All-Star Event, pro players from around the globe will meet in Barcelona, Spain for regional matches, the 1v1 tournament, fun game modes, and a few surprises. It’s up to you to decide which pros are worthy of the ‘All-Star’ title.

Cast your vote before November 8th, and prepare yourself: There will be mayhem.

Due to an error, we erroneously disabled Doom Bots of Doom: The Teemoing, and The Gauntlet earlier than intended.

We've gone ahead and re-enabled the mode, and will extend it up until end of the day on 11/3, and the disable will follow the schedule that the Rotating Game Modes normally do (4am on 11/4, local time for most regions).

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Go forth, and vanquish many Doom Bots!"

Don't forget that THE TEEMOING is almost over! Be sure to pick up any of the three new skins or returning Halloween seasonal legacy skins through November 3rd!

11/1 - Update on Clubs Outage

Following up on the recent October Clubs outage thread, Riot Marlet has posted a brief update to let folks know they are still experiencing issues

"UPDATE 11/1

We know some of you are seeing continued issues with club membership and tags. Currently, we are tracking down 2 main issues:

Some owners not being able to see the club they own

Clubs appear as not having any owner

Once we get some further info, we'll make sure to update everyone!"

Badmin is back! | Summoner Showcase /ALL chat [League of Legends]

"On this episode of Summoner Showcase, Josh and Sam bring you more Star Guardian art because you asked for it! Last episode was a bit Jinx-heavy… Plus, more Ivern art than you can shake a stick at, and Badministrator is back with a brand new Vi rap! If you’ve got a favorite piece of fanart you’d like to see featured on the show, send it to the hosts on Twitter or leave a comment below!"

REMINDERS

To round out tonight's red post collection, here are a few reminders on current promotions or limited time events!

Championship Zed, Worlds 2016 summoner icons, legacy content, and more is available through November 6th! Don't forget to head to the shop to buy your championship jewels for IP to upgrade your 2016 WC summoner icons during broad cast days!

THE TEEMOING is upon us! New content such as Little Devil Teemo & Betwitching Morgana & Tristana plus legacy Halloween content in the shop through November 3rd!